This Team of brothers has been competing  against everyone else and each other  their entire life. Standing at 4 9 these married fathers are ready to prove they have what it takes to win one-million dollars.

Mark makes his living as a stuntman and occasionally works as a jockey. This father of two is looking forward to running the Race with his brother in order to continue building on their relationship. Mark believes that the biggest advantage he and his teammate have over their competition is their fitness level and ability to make split second decisions, a skill they have mastered after years of working in physically and mentally demanding fields. Mark enjoys skiing, biking and golfing and describes himself as short, athletic and creative.

Michael is looking forward to working on communication issues he and his brother have had with each other in the past. Michael, also a father of two, splits his time between Maui and Los Angeles. His favorite hobbies include playing music and surfing. He claims that the biggest difference between the two is that he is the surfer and Mark is the skier. Both have worked extensively in films and television including the feature films Van Helsing, Spiderman and Seabiscuit.

They chose similar paths in their lives and, after years of surfing big waves and racing horses around a track, theyre eager to run the Race of a lifetime with one another for a shot at a million dollars.

« Last Edit: March 01, 2009, 12:14:38 AM by puddin »

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Don’t write these guys off because of their size. Both have worked as stuntmen, and have a huge list of physical activities on their CV. They are brothers, so their relationship is solid and won’t be self destructing midway through the event. I think the final recap task might be what finishes this team, and I think they will end up where Brian and Greg deserved to finish.

Great video! There is nothing "little" about this team!! Love the brother/brother dynamics, think their strength will be a huge asset! Looking forward to seeing more!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I was watching an episode of Frasier last night and Mark Munoz had a bit part. Niles was having a Halloween party, but kids kept ringing his door bell. With the second or third group, he yelled at them, but one of them took his mask off and said, "I'm Dr. Krovitz." I didn't recognize him, but I happened to be watching the credits and it listed Mark Munoz. That's when it clicked. So I checked IMDB and it has a Frazier Halloween episode listed for him.

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Dear Lord: So far today, I'm doing alright. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, selfish or nasty. I have not gossiped, cursed, whined or eaten chocolate. However, I am going to get out of bed in a minute, and will need a lot more help then. Amen.

I was watching an episode of Frasier last night and Mark Munoz had a bit part. Niles was having a Halloween party, but kids kept ringing his door bell. With the second or third group, he yelled at them, but one of them took his mask off and said, "I'm Dr. Krovitz." I didn't recognize him, but I happened to be watching the credits and it listed Mark Munoz. That's when it clicked. So I checked IMDB and it has a Frazier Halloween episode listed for him.

YES I watched that yesterday as well but did not pick up on Mark as Krovitz, good catch harley!

WAILUKU - By the time you read this, Lahaina resident Michael Munoz will be back home singing karaoke at Kobe Japanese Steak House after a whirlwind round-the-world jaunt in CBS' reality game show "The Amazing Race."

Munoz and his brother, Mark, along with 10 other two-person teams circled the globe in less than a month to compete for a $1 million prize.

But just don't ask him about it.

Contest rules bar Munoz from discussing the competition. But via phone from Los Angeles recently he was allowed to share his feelings and explain why he entered the often hectic, emotional and grueling physical and mental TV competition.

"It was a trip. It was lots of fun," he said. "You can't miss it."

Michael, 51, and Mark, 48, of Los Angeles, will be featured in the 14th season of "The Amazing Race," which will air at 7 p.m. Sunday on CBS (Channels 3, 9, 1007).

The show features the brothers, who are both professional stuntmen, along with other interesting pairs, such as former National Football League cheerleaders and a brother-and-sister team who both graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School and now work as corporate lawyers in California.

The Emmy-wining show follows the 11 teams for 12 episodes as they travel more than 40,000 miles in 22 days to nine countries, including, for the first time, Romania. Other countries include Switzerland, India and Russia.

In the past, the teams raced from country to country, picking up clues along the way for the next destination. The first team to reach the secret final destination is the winner.

Munoz, who grew up in Santa Monica, Calif., but whose family went back and forth between there and Oahu, said he and his brother have watched the show regularly and applied because they thought it would be an interesting experience.

"I figured, hey, I can do that," Munoz said.

Munoz said he and his brother keep in good physical condition for their work as stuntmen in movies and television shows, but they couldn't prepare for everything in the competition.

"I don't think anybody could prepare for the unknown," he said.

But he and his brother "felt good" going into the competition and tried to stay as relaxed as possible. "We had to keep our minds open and be ready."

Munoz has been on Maui for eight years and in his younger years lived on Oahu where he surfed on Oahu's famed North Shore.

He now commutes to Los Angeles, where he has done stunts and acting in television shows and movies such as the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno"; played a monster in the movie "Van Helsing"; and played a child hanging from a chandelier in the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen." He and his brother have also worked on the "Spider-Man" films.

Although Munoz can't say if his 4-foot-9-inch height was an advantage on "Amazing Race," he did say it does help in his stunt work as he has a low center of gravity and can act in children's roles.

The same goes for brother Mark, who is the same height and comes from a jockey background.

Munoz said he and his brother were trained as dancers when they were young and have also danced the hula. Their family had a dance-shoe business on Oahu, which had them commuting between Oahu and California.

On Maui, Munoz said, he likes to surf and swim. You can find him at Puamana and "Shark Pit" surf spots.

His wife, Marisa, also enjoys the water and remains on Maui when Munoz goes to work in Los Angeles.

Munoz also has two stepsons and seven "moopuna," or grandchildren.

Although Munoz's life is getting back to normal, he said it's hard keeping a secret about the show.

But he said people will be in store for lots of fun.

"As the show always is, it's full of surprises and all. . . . Beyond that: You've got to wait and see."

Phil commented this morning on the Bonnie Hunt Show that these guys were hysterical and were going to have us peeing in our pants with laughter!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Mark and Michael Munoz had the odds stacked against them going into the ninth leg of The Amazing Race.

After being spared from elimination by finishing last during The Amazing Race's final non-elimination leg, serving out the last of their penalties accrued from the Race's previous leg and facing an additional Speed Bump task, Mark a 48-year-old stuntman/jockey from Los Angeles, CA, and Michaela 51-year-old stuntman/actor from Maui, HI, were unable to make up enough ground to remain in the competition and became the seventh team to be eliminated from the CBS reality travel competition.

On Monday, Mike and Mark spoke to Reality TV World about what ninth-leg task viewers didn't see on the show, what led to their late arrival in Guilen, China and which of their several time penalties they did not believe was fair.

Mike: I believe it was about a half-an-hour before our elimination that we arrived after Jaime and Cara at the Pit Stop.

Mark: Yeah it was. Yeah.

Reality TV World: Based on the fact it was already daylight out when your flight arrived in Guilen, it looked like you had to say overnight in Guangzhou and arrived in Guilen quite a bit behind everyone else, is that correct?

Mark: Yeah, well what happened was we missed our earlier flight so we ended up having to spend the night at the airport. So that definitely delayed us, we got in later that morning. The only way we actually picked up time was there was an obstacle... where [the contestants] had to wait for the park to open up. They actually didn't show that on the episode, they cut out a whole sequence of climbing 500 stairs to this temple in China.

Reality TV World: Mark I think it was you who said on the way to the Detour challenge that you both were trying to stay positive. But it is safe to say that you were both pretty certain that you were in last place for the entire leg?

Mark: For the most part yes because we never saw any other team. But even in earlier legs there were moments where you knew you were either close to last or last, but sometimes it was a matter of a taxi ride that could make up only 3-4 minutes where you'd be behind an suddenly you're not in last anymore. So we just kept a really strong, sturdy pace.

Mike: We figured that even though we were dead last that you just never know what's gonna happen ahead of you with the other teams. So we still had to go 100% just in case there was that opportunity, that window to advance.

Reality TV World: Was there ever a chance where you felt you may be getting back into it and had a chance of making it through?

Mike: Actually I felt, yeah, because we [went] through that last leg so seamlessly, and we figured because they'd bunched up the teams so many times before that it may be possible again. So I thought there was that opportunity.

Mark: And the other thing about that last leg and our pace was there had been a few times through the whole game where we got [stuck] with the cab, and this was one time where we got a solid cab driver that knew, and this was halfway through the leg, she knew where we were going every time we gave her a name that was written out in her language, boom she was on it and she would get us there. Yeah, I think it gave us a little optimism.

Reality TV World: I know you guys had gotten penalized with other penalties earlier in the competition, but those last two taxi ride penalties were the ones that really seemed to do you in and it seemed kind of confusing to viewers given we've seen situations in earlier seasons where teams sometimes don't have enough money and seem to just convince the cab driver to settle for whatever money they have. What was your understanding about The Amazing Race rules about how you are allowed to settle a cab fare?

Mark: Further back around the third leg we were kind of misled by something that had happened in the game that gave us the notion that we could trade a few of our personal items. And in the heat of the moment when we're in China it was one of those things where we were struggling to try and keep up and really stay in the game you get into that bubble where you'll do almost anything you can to stay in the game and take a shot. And we thought it was the right thing because these [cab drivers] are working their butts off to get us around, and giving them things that they would probably ordinarily never have made us feel good.

Mike: Right. And we never figured that the penalties would be so severe because we had [received] previous penalties where it was a half-hour here and a half-hour for that so we had no idea that it would be such a severe penalty. And likewise I didn't think that it was too big of a deal. I probably wouldn't have done anything differently because we were, in my heart, doing the right thing in taking care of these people and not trying to get something for free.

Reality TV World: So just to be clear, did you think you were breaking a rule when you were doing that or was it a surprise to you?

Mike: At the moment I didn't know we were doing anything wrong.

Reality TV World: As far as you know, were this seasonâ€™s cab payment rules any different from the showâ€™s previous seasons?

Mark: I believe they were always the same.

Reality TV World: When are things, like the cab payment rules, explained? Do the producers give all the contestants some big master rules list at the beginning of the Race or is that type of stuff included in some fine print on each individual clue?

Mark: When they have the orientation and preparation to go on the race they go over it several times and they give you a copy [of the rules] along with other pertinent items you may need to stick in your backpack or fanny pack and they're always available to you if you have to ask. So it wasn't that they weren't available, it was just our feelings and what we did in that spur of the moment.

Reality TV World: Kinda going off of that, can you explain what happened with the earlier penalty where you got penalized for having a cab lead you to the temple as you followed behind in the rickshaw? We've seen teams do stuff like that when they had to drive themselves someplace before...

Mark: We had an idea of knowing where we were going, the fact that [the taxi] just happened to next to us or in front of us, I think, is a horrible coincidence.

Mike: And the fact is he had our bags in there in his cab and we didn't wanna lose him so we were making sure that he was staying with us. He actually had to get directions to get where we were, so we weren't really, as far as thinking he knows where he's going, we didn't tell him where we were going, so I myself thought that was, uh (Pauses) and unfair penalty as well.

Reality TV World: Just because I'm asking about all of them, you also got penalized for tangling the air pumps for the other teams during that same rickshaw Detour task. Was there something on the clue that specifically warned you against doing that or is there some type of general "no sabotage" rule?

Mark: No, it was one of those things where in there, in the moment we felt like we were in a good position and so I figured "Well, you know what, I'll jut put these things away and make it a little harder on everyone. I didn't think we were breaking [a rule], I thought maybe just bending the rules a little bit, creating an obstacle. So you never know, you take a shot. We weren't breaking the rules of the country, so...

Reality TV World: They only showed it briefly, but could you talk about how difficult that Roadblock task was with the birds was? We saw some teams have some trouble with it while others kind of coasted through.

Mike: Oh the birds thing?! That wasn't really difficult at all, in fact. I had a ball with that. My birds were very cooperative. It was really cold, but other than that I didn't understand how they could have had trouble with that.

Reality TV World: What about the Detour task, did you both complete the dance on the first try?

Mike: Yeah we did, didn't we Mark?

Mark: I believe we did, yes.

Mike: Yeah, we're both trained dancers from when we were kids.

Reality TV World: How long did it take?

Mike: Oh, that took us probably a half-hour?

Mark: Yeah, probably about a half-hour.

Reality TV World: You weren't around for those confrontations between [Luke Adams] and [Jennifer Hoffman], but it seemed like that had begun brewing at least during the previous leg. Had you seen anything between the two teams that suggested they were at such odds with each other?

Mark: I mean there were confrontations with all the teams, even I had one with Tammy Jih way early in the race. Most of them aren't physical, they're more verbal or insinuations. But because we weren't there and I didn't see it until last night... I wasn't surprised. Or rather I should say I wasn't shocked, I was slightly surprised. You're racing for $1 million, you'll do almost anything.

Reality TV World: Based on the footage that aired last night, it looked like Luke was at least as responsible for those incidents as Jen was -- what are your own opinions after seeing them on TV?

Mike: From what I saw it coulda gone either way. They were both pretty aggressive there.

Reality TV World: Whatâ€™s your overall general opinion of Margie and Luke? Did you approve of their "no holds barred" style of playing the game or did you take exception to anything they did?

Mike: Well I gotta tell you, up until that point I admired them as competitors. After that I was kinda like "Whoa."

Mark: I think that's part of the game though. The big race thing is it really pulls the best and the worse of you out of you, so that's not unexpected.

Reality TV World: What about Jaime and Cara, they seemed to rile up a few people as well. Did you get along with them?

Mark: Oh in the big picture? Yeah we got along with them. [But] they don't play well with people

(Both laugh)

Reality TV World: Going back to last weekâ€™s episode, did you guys really not realize those "girls" weren't really girls during that karaoke cab ride?

(Both Laugh)

Mike: Oh absolutely, I mean it was real obvious up front. I mean, for one, they were like six-feet-plus and it was real obvious they were men. No women have hands like that. But at that point Mark and I knew we had to be very entertaining so it was like "Okay, lets go have fun with this." And so that's what we did

Reality TV World: Did you guys begin rooting for any particular team to win once you got eliminated?

Mike: I actually started rooting for... I mean, I stayed with my original pick with Luke and [Margie Adams].

Mark: Same here. They have a great passion for the game and a great and competitive nature and I like the way they worked well with each other.